Associated parks:
None
On this day we(myself and my good friend Joe) started out on what was to be one of the biggest adventures we might ever take in our lives. We would start off in Largo, MD and travel across the country more then 4,000 miles and visit 13 parks total. All of this in just 13 days. This TR is just one of them. So hold on and I hope they don't get to lengthy.
We started off the tour at SFA and their 8 coasters. I use the rating of 1-5.(1 being the worst and 5 being the best)
I had previously visited SFA back in 2000 but Joe had never been there before. After flashing our season passes we headed for the first ride of the day...
Two Face: The Flip Side (3) - For some reason I really do like this style of Boomerang. It always gives a nice smooth and intense ride. Quite possibly the only Vekoma kinda coaster I enjoy... more on that in a minute. Once we finished we headed over to...
Wild One (4) - My ride back in 2000 was very lackluster. Not much air and somewhat boring. This time, it was a much different story. I found the ride to be full of air and gave a nicely paced. Very different then before. Next up...
Joker's Jinx (4) - I'd like to say that the lap bars really make a difference but other then the back seat being not as painful, it really wasn't anything different. I loved the Jinx back then and I still do now. The launch is nice and powerful and there is no mid-course brake run. Now for something very nice...
Superman: Ride of Steel (5) - What a terrific ride. Powerful airtime, strong positive Gs, and a nice long course. By far, the best ride in the entire park.
During Superman, we had been keeping an eye on Batwing and watching it test over and over again. Thinking that it might open, we walked on over and see what was up. After chatting with a ride op, we found out that the ride would be down for some time. So we said to heck with it and headed over towards Roar. On our way, we bumped into fellow Posse member and Buzzer, Jeremy(Hostyl1). We stopped by the food stand to get what was one of our 20 cups of water that day and ended up at...
Roar (4) - A very decent sized woodie. Lots of twists and turns. Air and laterals. Throw in a long shed and you get Roar. Good job GCI. All the more reason why I look forward to Branson's newest GCI gem. Thank you for riding out loud.
Mind Eraser (1) - Vekoma SLC. Ouch. Credit ride.
The Great Chase (2) - I gave this ride a 2 because the operator sent us around 4 times. Its a kiddie coaster. And last but not least...
Batwing (1) - I didn't realize Batjunk was designed to vibrate to the point where your teeth would rattle out of your mouth. I also didn't realize the ride was designed to break down numerous times in one day. A very nice ride to look at but absolutely a ride I wouldn't even bother to think of riding again. Way to go Vekoma. :(
I found the park to be decently clean. However, the tables could use a good cleaning. Employees did their job to the point where they weren't going slow but weren't flying either. Overall I give the park a (4) for not being terrible like some other SF but not being outstanding.
Coasterman Mike
Total coaster count at the end of the day: 8
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Coaster M and M
Ride On!
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*Can't we all just be nice?*
Sounds like a marathon! I look forward to hearing more about the other parks -- I Went to SFA today (Sunday, August 11, 2002) so I will add my two cents... it seems like it must be everyday that Batwing breaks down. I consider myself lucky that I got two rides on it considering it was down at least twice today (waited over an hour for the first ride in front, and second I tried to use a fast lane pass and I found myself on the second platform and jumped right on). But once you get through all that crap, the ride is awesome. It vibrates a little for sure, but it is as intense a coaster as you will find imo.
Superman is another great ride, this variation is different from SFNE as it has helixes and the flat track, but it is a total joy to ride with great air, big drops and those speedy turns that pin you to your seat.
Roar and Wild One are two more great coasters. I didn't expect Roar to be so fast and forceful both in terms of air and laterals; after riding this I am less concerned about the future of wood. I also didn't expect Wild One to have such force either. I have fond memories of this coaster from Paragon Park, and to my surprise it really has not changed that much. This is a super, classic wooden coaster, and I'm glad it's still around for another generation to enjoy.
Joker's Jinx sort of reminds me of the Galaxy ride at Canobie Lake in a weird way. The best part is the launch, but it's a fun ride all the way through with all the tight "spaghetti bowl" turns and twists and especially the last inversion right before the end.
Mind Eraser is just hang and bang, and that's all I have to say. Two Face - The Flip Side is not your standard boomerang, however. It is alot smoother, and looking across at the other riders adds another dimension.
Overall I really enjoyed SFA. It was clean, staff were pleasant, and it has a really nice collection of coasters.
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-Sean
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Im the #1 Canobie Lake Park Fan!!!These are my top 3 coasters:
1. S:RoS @ SFNE 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Cyclone/B:TDK
Great Chase is very similar to Howler if you have been to Holiday World. Or even Taxi Jam at Paramount's Carowinds.
The only time we rode Batdung was in the very front. I couldn't even imagine just how bad it would be in the back. I even have a story to go along with it to. The train that we rode on had just been finished being "fixed." When it came to locking the harnesses, the chair infront of us was malfunctioning. One of the lights on the computer located on the side of the train wouldn't come on. The train wouldn't dispatch because of it. So after alot of pushing and squeezing, the light still wouldn't come on. So they just reclined the train and sent us on our way. After sitting on the brake run for 5 mins, one station op will do that, we eventually went into the other station where the mechcanic continued to "fix" the train again. The ride only ran one train for the rest of the day.
Coasterman Mike
I was there saturday (8/10) and the way they were running Batwing late in the afternoon/early evening was downright terrible,while waiting in a long and slow line the ride broke down and was forced from 2 train operation down to 1 train op.
The biggest problem with it was the way the ops were loading,instead of opening the line to station #2 we had to walk across the platform in station #1 just to get into station # 2.
Batwing wasn't the only ride having problems,both Wild one & JJ were having their own share of headaches,Wild one was having lap bar problems while JJ was having brake problems.
It's all in my TR if anyone is interested in reading it.
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Top 5 steel: 1)S:UF, 2)S:ROS(SFA), 3)Alpen.BGW) 4)AC(BGW)5)Hypersonic; wood 1)Rampage, 2)Roar SFA, 3)Grizzly PKD, 4)G Cyclone SFOG, 5)Wild One SFA
CCI 1992-2002, 36 rides.
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